The Age Letters – 26 November

Get on with the bleeding obvious
Given that so many train services are cancelled as a result of broken-down trains, failed signals, faulty points, fused overhead wires or level crossing crashes, it is obvious that Melbourne’s rail network has been neglected and under resourced for many years. It is no surprise that 61 per cent of Victorians believe that the State Government has dropped the ball on public transport (“Fix public transport before roads, poll shows”, The Age, 25/11).

I look forward to John Brumby keeping his promise to listen to the community, and announcing in his coming transport statement that, for the first time, more money will be spent on fixing basic problems with public transport and expanding the network than on building new roads. This, according the poll, would be in line with the wishes of nearly two-thirds of Victorians.

Ian Harris, Canterbury

Give us our track
It is of no surprise that the Age/Nielsen poll showed that two-thirds of Melburnians want public transport upgraded. For years, our pleas for a railway extension to Mernda and South Morang have fallen on deaf ears — including petitions with more than 9000 signatures tabled in Parliament, calling for the line to be built immediately.

With the CSIRO predicting petrol to rise to $8 by 2018, Premier John Brumby must future-proof the outer suburbs by building railway extensions in the short term. It’s time for the State Government to cut out the crap and give us our track. Mernda needs rail immediately and we should not have to wait until 2027 for this basic essential service.